> Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 12:22:25 -0700
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Barry Gold)
> As you can see, the accompanying piece has a sequence of notes on
> g-natural (an accidental) followed in the next bar by a notes on
> g-sharp (called for in the key signature). When I was young, I was
> taught that the effect of an accidental ends at the measure bar so it
> was not necessary to explicitly cancel it.
When I was (physically) young - long, long ago - I learned that, too.
That's the rule today, too. Nevertheless it can be helpful to make
explicite what the rule already tells, if one cannot detect the change
easily. In your case it's a change back to the "normal" case and a
performer can miss that if (s)he does not notice the chord progression.
So in that case I would add the sharp in front of the first g in
bar 3.
In other cases where the (back-) change is obvious I wouldn't add
superfluous accidentals; sometimes I add a small accidental over
the note as PMX offers it with e.g. "oes" (editorial sharp)
> What do the other people on this list think? Should I insert an
> explicit sharp at the start of bars 3, 7, 11, and 15? Leave it the
> way it is?
Where are these bars? You switched of the bar numbering :-)
In bar 7 there is nothing to switch back, because you forgot the
natural in bar 6. In 11 I would add a sharp. In 15 I would replace
the wrong natural by a sharp.
> Switch to relative accidentals and let MusiXTeX decide for
> me?
That does not work, because "relative accidentals" do not diappear,
if they are not neccessary. With "relative accidentals", too, any
accidental specified will have some effect on the output.
Nevertheless I always recommend using relative accidentals. That
means in your case that you have to specify in bars 2, 6, 10 and 14
"gf". "gf" means in the case of A-major (3 sharps) flatten g-sharp.
the result is a natural sign in front of the g. In bar 3, 7, 11, and
15 you have to type "gn". "gn" means in that case: restore the original
meaning of the g in A-major. The result is a sharp in front of the
g. If you write the next note as "gn", too, then there will be
again a sharp in front of the g. Relative accidentals have nothing
to do with keeping track of the accidentals; only with handling the
accidentals corresponding to the key signature.
I like that behaviour because for me "gf", a g to be flattened, is more
logical when *typing* the music. If it would print as "flat" I couldn't
*play* the music :-)
With relative accidentals you can afterwards easily tranpose the music.
Have a look at http://www.gmd.de/Misc/Music/ "MusiXTeX" "Add-ons" "scales"
to see how wonderful it works. One scale printed in any key signature.
-- Werner
PS: Editorial accidentals, as they are implemented with PMX now, do not
follow the rules of relative accidentals - as far as I know. So be warned.
